Staff

Douglas Detrick, Executive Director

Douglas Detrick is a Portland, Oregon-based composer, trumpet player, and arts administrator and consultant whose work in these diverse areas is distinguished by its quiet thoughtfulness and its embrace of good ideas from unconventional sources. He was awarded the 2011 Chamber Music America New Jazz Works and Presenting Jazz grants for his work with his chamber-jazz quintet Douglas Detrick’s AnyWhen Ensemble, and the commissioned work “The Bright and Rushing World” was premiered at New York’s Jazz Gallery in 2012 and performed throughout the United States. He is currently the Executive Director of the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, and performs in Oregon as well as touring nationally.

Ryan Meagher, Director of Operations, Director of PJCE Records

Ryan Meagher (pronounced Marr), originally a native of San Jose, California, is a jazz guitarist and composer who launched his international reputation in New York City (NYC) in 2003 after completing his bachelor of music degree at San Diego State University. He spent his first few years in NYC discovering his compositional voice and honing his improvisational craft.

He is a co-founder and the Programming Director of the Montavilla Jazz Festival, the Director of Operations of the Portland Jazz Composers’ Ensemble, Director of PJCE Records, Director of Portland State University’s “The Shed” Summer Jazz Workshop, Editor of the Jazzscene Magazine, Marketing and Advertising Consultant for the Oregon Coast Jazz Party, and was interim Director of Jazz Studies at Mt. Hood Community College before taking his vision to the Lower Columbia College Jazz Ensemble in Longview, Washington. He is also currently Instructor of Applied Jazz Guitar at San Diego State University.

Mieke Bruggeman-Smith, Director of Development

Mieke Bruggeman-Smith is a performer, educator, and composer/arranger. She performs in a wide variety of groups including the Quadraphonnes, an all-female sax quartet, Afro-Cuban band Melao de Cuba, and the PJCE, as well as classical saxophone and musical theatre.

Mieke also enjoys teaching private lessons at her home studio and co-teaching at Roosevelt HS, Beaumont MS and with the Portland Youth Jazz Orchestra. She is heavily involved in promoting music education and loves collaborating with her music community. Music is the one outlet that (as author Tom Robbins might say) keeps the oxygen from leaking out of her life.

Save

Save

We’re looking for our next sponsor!

Is your brand looking for an innovative, collaborative partner with deep roots in Portland's creative community? Contact us to begin a conversation about reaching new audiences.

Events by Category

About Us

The Portland Jazz Composers’ Ensemble is a 12-piece jazz chamber orchestra which commissions and performs original works by its members and by other jazz composers in the Portland music community and beyond.